Category: Business Models (Page 8 of 10)

The Guild Wars Business Model

July 20, 2005 / Damion Schubert

For those of us quibbling about price structures, Robert Garriott helpfully supplies us with the answer to what a game with Guild Wars’ billing model needs to do to be successful.

“We have to sell at least five times more copies than a subscriber-based online game in order to get to about the same level of profitability,” says Garriott, matter of factly.

At least. Noted: the article doesn’t mention whether or not they succeeded, although (as some have noted here) at the very least their sales in America have been very good.

White Wolf Beats A Hasty Retreat

July 15, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Slashdot points out that White Wolf has abandoned their ill-advised money grab to anyone attempting to play a tabletop game. Widespread outrage amongst their community was a driving factor.

Really, if you want more money from each of your customers, is it really too complicated to give them something of value in return?

Original comments thread is here.

The Psychology of Price and Value

July 11, 2005 / Damion Schubert

It’s a common trend in games, nowadays, to figure out how to pick up the gamer and shake him for loose change. And I foresee a backlash. Among the recent news:

Everquest increased it’s price to $14.99 in June. Similarly, Ultima Online increased it’s price to $12.99 in 2003. Both were originally below the $10 dollar mark.
On Slashdot today, White Wolf has decided any Vampire games with a price tag owes WW a cut – even, some rules lawyers claim, if the ‘price tag’ is money collected for the pizza guy.
Emboldened by wacky Korean games, Microsoft and Sony are both jumping over themselves to make micropayments a key part of the next console generation – even though, if you listen to most of their plans, it sounds like they want to ship half a game for full price, and expect you to buy the other half.
The makers of Sin using the episodic format to create a game that would, once completed, possibly be the most expensive First Person Shooter ever.

Sin Episodes – Too Expensive?

July 8, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Ritual is releasing a sequel to Sin in episodic format.

Ritual Entertainment’s long-awaited Sin 2 is to be released episodically over Valve’s Steam digital distribution system, with episodes lasting around six hours each to be released “every three to four months” for around $20 (£11.38) an episode.

This is interesting from a number of angles. Despite Steam’s massive unpopularity (and not all undeserved, I should add), there are many who think that digital distribution will catch on in a big way, possibly even going so far as to save gaming. As Scott Miller points out: Continue reading

The Next Generation of Consoles Misses the Point

May 25, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Continuing our theme of Rant Wednesday, Stuart Roch is ranting about the PS3 insisting it’s not a gaming machine.

Why, why, why?! Why must Sony persist in their efforts to make a PlayStation console to replace DVD players and stereos in people’s living rooms? Is it just not cool enough anymore to make great game machines? I swear I wish they would just get over this preoccupation with the uber home entertainment system and be satisfied with the fact that they make great gaming consoles. I promise you that I’m not going to buy a PS3 and trade in my PC and high-def DVD player in favor of this supposed all-in-one solution.

The Value of Attentiveness

May 22, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Dr. Cat is one of the lesser-known pioneers of the industry. He launched Furcadia, an MMO which went live before UO, and which has been tidily profitable for quite some time. A social game that caters to a unique audience, Furcadia has none of the grind-y elements of today’s EQ clones, and it has offered some unique lessons to those running the game. One of the things the esteemed Doctor said he’s learned from his experience running Furcadia is “Attention is the currency of the future“. As it turns out, that’s not just true for MMOs.

Television has long simply used the Nielson Ratings to determine the popularity of television shows, and set advertising prices. But now, television executives are discovering that not all viewers are created equal, and this discovery has the potential to transform the entertainment industry. Continue reading

Another MMO-Oriented Look at the XBox 360

May 21, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Peter Freese (head of the Core Technology group over at NCSoft, and former coworker of my own) gave his thoughts about the Xbox 360 on the blog with the really long name He takes it on from a completely different angle than my own analysis, focusing on XBox Live and Microsoft’s desire to control the servers. It’s worth a read. Continue reading

Ubi Goes Boldly Where Warren Spector Fears To Tread!

May 17, 2005 / Damion Schubert

I thought the juxtaposition of these two stories on Slashdot was pretty funny.

All mirth aside, the first article’s a pretty good summation of the concerns swirling around next-gen consoles. Here’s Warren Spector’s take on things from the CNet article: Continue reading

Is SOE hoisting their own petard?

April 27, 2005 / Damion Schubert

In the broken windows thread, Aufero had this sharp piece of insight.

SOE has been responsible for drilling into many, many people’s heads over the years that selling in-game assets for real world cash is cheating. It’s due in large part to their own efforts on the subject that it will continue to be perceived as cheating in the games they started with those policies in mind.

True, true. Continue reading

Sony Does the Macarena With the Devil

April 20, 2005 / Damion Schubert

Sony has come full circle – in the days after the launch of EQ, they were the company most likely to ban or sue customers that dared used eBay to bypass the mindblowing fun that was their advancement grind. Now, instead, they will fight fire with fire. And there was much factual reporting, intelligent discussion as well as gnashing of teeth.

My honest opinion? I’ve been trying to convince people to try this exact approach since I was toiling on UO2. Why? Because at the end of the day, the biggest problems with eBay and MMOs are service issues that are solvable if the trades can be secure (as illustrated by the lovely cartoons on Sony’s explanatory site). Continue reading